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Originally Posted by Shaden  They are being obedient to something which they cannot even verify the existence of - therefore they must place their faith in the fact that they are not being lied to. |
Take the extreme. Nothing can be believed without faith. Absolutely nothing. Your own existence cannot be believed without faith. It is
never verifiable. The sun
might not rise tomorrow. You
might not take another breath. You cannot be absolutely certain that my responses to you are not a million monkeys at typewriters with a randomizer that selects a particular response and it just so happens to be sensical every time.
So what makes Christians special?
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Originally Posted by Shaden The past is irrevelant to the truth because it does not exist in the present. If the Christian Church judged itself on it's past it would change and evolve as it learned from it's mistakes. Yet the fact of the matter is that Christians view God's word as timeless and unchangeable. The values presented in the bible are the values they adhere to. This never changes. |
That explains what we're doing in the Middle East, I guess. History repeats itself, until we're all scattered across the supernatural world, because the natural world is space dust. Is this what you respect? So if a child burns his hand by putting it onto a hot kettle, it would be respectable that he do it again and again?
Perhaps you would care to list some of the timeless values these Good Christians adhere to? Or is such a list at all relevant to the respectability?
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Originally Posted by Shaden What you are trying to do is shoehorn Christianity into a subjective mindframe. You are saying that if they don't question they're own beliefs then they are wrong. |
No, I'm delivering the timeless truth that saying "I'm wrong" is harder than saying "I'm right". It is harder to doubt than to have faith. Why was Thomas' role so important? Why did Jesus allow Thomas to ascertain that he was in fact there in the flesh?
Permit me here to quote Albert Einstein. Twice.
"The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."
"That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed."
Both of these are copied from
Albert Einstein - Wikiquote, so you can see context.
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Originally Posted by Shaden Yet the limits the Christian faith choose are often both personal and variable. |
Then it's not one faith, is it?
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Originally Posted by Shaden Finally if the Christian faith and it's respectability are largely based on it's beliefs and morals then the entire faith (and indeed all those in the world) are based on the subjective and seperate views that people view them with. |
And this is a bad thing... why? Well, I guess it would make monarchies, papal regimes, and totalitarianism a bit difficult, but according to the Bible, God demands that you decide for yourself anyways.
So, once again, the central basis of most organizations, including the various forms of the Christian faith, is that of obedience. I do not respect obedience. I don't see why I should. It's
easy.
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Originally Posted by Shaden just that I met a lot of Christians in my last college and I was very much impressed with them. They were really nice, decent, genuine and kind individuals. |
That makes the individuals respectable, not everyone with the same religious affiliation.
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Originally Posted by Shaden In that case this brings me back to the original intention of this post - that this was an opinion not a statement and no one person's view is more correct then any other. |
In the words of Stephen Colbert, "I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be it Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe our infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior."
You speak for the Christians a lot. Fully disclosing, I have had some experience as a Christian. So, I must ask: are you a Christian?